Chapter 44

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

KATE

S weat pours down my forehead as another contraction slams into me, and this time, I can't hold in the pain as I grip the side of the bed and scream.

Felicity jumps to her feet to try and comfort me right as Jensen comes barging through the door, my overnight bag in his hand.

His eyebrows shoot to his hairline as he takes me in.

"I'm a mess," I moan, just as the latest wave of pain subsides.

He drops the bag to the floor beside my bed and takes the hand gripping the mattress in his. "You squeeze my hand, Princess. Let me feel everything you do. I'm here now, and I'm so fucking sorry."

Swiping under my eye, I notice a streak of mascara on the side of my pointer finger. "I wasn't prepared for this. I had everything ready, and here I am. I haven't even removed my makeup. They're coming a week earlier than we planned."

Claire comes to stand next to Felicity. "We'll give you some privacy, but just know we'll be right outside."

She leans across and kisses my forehead. "Love you lots."

Felicity plants a kiss on my cheek. "He's here now. Go ahead and have those babies."

They both leave and close the door softly with a click.

Immediately, Jensen picks up the bag and balances it on the side of the bed, searching through it.

"What are you looking for?"

"Your makeup bag."

I shake my head in frustration as another wave builds. They're coming faster and faster now. "I took it out of my bag last night to grab something and forgot to put it back in."

Like some sort of fucking magician, he fetches it out and unzips the top. "I noticed it on the side when I finished my workout and was showering. I put it back in."

Taking out my cleanser and cloth, he holds them in one hand and lets me squeeze the shit out of his other as he helps me through my latest contraction.

"Let me clean you up."

"I look terrible, don't I?" I whimper.

Smiling, he shakes his head at me. "You're laboring my babies. You couldn't be any more perfect in this moment. But I told you I'd give you whatever you need, and right now, I know you, and I know this is what you want. It's something you have control over."

My dry lips quiver with emotion as he turns my head to him and sets a kiss against them. Then, slowly, he wipes away my makeup. With each pass of the cleanser, I feel a sense of relief.

Another contraction hits, and as it builds in my spine, I know the intensity has cranked up a notch. "I think you need to call the doctor. The pressure to push is starting, JJ."

Bracketing my face with his large hands, he looks me dead in the eyes as he reaches over to press the call button. "You are so fucking powerful. You're going to deliver these babies like a boss, and I'm going to be here for every single push, every whimper, every smile, and every tear. I wish I could take all the pain away, but instead, I'll just make sure you get all the aftercare you need. I worship you, Princess."

He reaches into my wash bag again and pulls out my lip balm. Popping the cap, he smooths it over my lips before setting his against mine. His tongue sweeps out to caress me, and even though I'm in the height of labor, this brief moment feels like the sweetest few seconds of my life.

JENSEN

"Okay." The doctor and a couple of nurses push through the door. "Let's see where we are."

Pulling on her gloves, she pushes up Kate's hospital gown, and a flash of black shows beneath.

I look at her as she relaxes her knees for the doctor. "Is that?"

She smirks through the clear discomfort she's in, which breaks my fucking heart to see. "Your jersey. It survived the amniotic fluid, and it's what I arrived in. They wanted me to remove it, but I insisted, so they let me keep it on. Feels kind of fitting, right?"

My dick twitches as I lean in to whisper, "How many weeks do we need to abstain?"

Another wave hits her again as she grabs hold of my hand, lurching forward and almost knocking me out in the process. "Never fucking again, Jensen."

Goddamn my need to wind her up. "JJ," I reply.

Her head whips to me. "Oh, you better not be correcting me right now."

The doctor finishes her inspection. "We're at ten centimeters and one hundred percent effaced. It's time to start pushing, Kate."

I see the panic as it overwhelms her. "I can't do this."

"You mean to tell me my boss woman can't do something as simple as this? Come on, Princess. You scare the shit out of people for a living. You can do anything." I kiss her knuckles. "Plus, once we have our babies, you get to find out what you've been dying to know."

She narrows her eyes in determination and then cries out when, without a doubt, the biggest contraction ricochets through her body. The way she squeezes my hand makes every puck I've taken to the body feel like a light tickle. I'm not sure I have any fingers left since I can't feel them, only the cracking of my knuckles under the pressure.

"Okay, Kate. We're about to enter the crowning stage. I need you to take some deep breaths for me, and on the next contraction, I want you to push with everything you have."

The wail that leaves my wife's throat is nothing short of terrifying as I leap to my feet and stroke her back, all the while helping her follow the rhythmic breathing she's so desperately trying to use from what she learned in the birthing classes we attended.

The best advice I received was to let her take the lead. I'm not about to do anything other than what she wants.

"Water," she cries after the latest contraction.

"Just enough to wet her lips," the doctor instructs. So that's what I do, dampening her soft lips as carefully as I can.

Inside, I'm a panicked mess, hoping and praying everything goes right and knowing once she's birthed our first child, she has to go through it all over again. But somehow, I keep it together and don't let it show. I need to be strong for us both.

"Here comes another," Kate moans.

"One big push, Princess."

The huge cry from my wife is quickly replaced with a much smaller one as the girl of my dreams delivers the first of our babies into this snowy, wintery world.

My efforts to hold it together almost fail me as Kate falls apart right next to me. Exhaustion, elation, relief, and the knowledge that she has to do it all over again hit her.

The nurse weighs our crying baby as I hold my sobbing wife, the tears flowing from her eyes mixing with mine. "I'm so fucking proud of you, Mrs. Jones," I whisper into her ear.

The nurse wraps and cleans our baby, and then I catch a glimpse that it's our boy, and a huge lump forms in my throat.

"It's our boy," I whisper.

"Congratulations, Mommy and Daddy." Bringing him around, the nurse places him on Kate's chest. She looks down at the jersey underneath her gown. "I know you wanted to keep it on for the birth, but it would be ideal for you to have skin-to-skin contact. This helps calm the baby and increase your bond."

"I can take him for a second," I say, begging for a hold as Kate sits up and the nurse helps remove my jersey.

This is the only time I'll ever be okay with her taking off my jersey for another man.

Holding my boy in my arms, I look over at Kate. I want to tell her his name, but I also want to wait for one last thing.

He smells like perfection.

Setting him on his mommy, they look like pure perfection, too, as I take in the most incredible sight of my life.

"I think you have competition," she whispers to me, a look of awe in her eyes at our boy.

"The only time I'll ever share my girl."

Kate's face twists again. "I think I'm contracting."

Excitement swirls in my stomach.

She's coming.

The nurse helps Kate by taking our boy and putting him in his bassinet. He is wrapped up in a baby blue blanket and matching knitted toque.

I'll dress him later, and fuck, I can't wait to change his first diaper.

Our daughter arrives with relative ease compared to the first birth, but Kate looks absolutely spent as she's placed onto her chest.

"Do you want your baby boy too?" I ask her.

She nods, tears streaming down her face and onto her chest. "Yes."

The way she holds and nurtures them. Like a fucking duck to water. Kate was made to be a mom, and by the look on her face, as she follows the nurse's instructions for breastfeeding, I know she feels it, too.

With the room quiet, I lie on the bed next to her. It's a tight squeeze, but I don't want a single inch between my family and me.

Not now, not ever.

"There's a few people hovering outside, and I think they might be desperate to meet…" The nurse trails off, realizing we've not provided names yet.

I wave my hand towards me and make sure Kate is covered properly while she continues to feed like a fucking pro.

"I was so worried I wouldn't be able to do this." She looks down at her chest.

"Why? It's great that you can, but it really doesn't matter how anything plays out, you know?"

"It doesn't?"

I shake my head. "No. I want you to promise me something."

"Anything."

Kissing the side of her jaw, I stare at her in wonderment. "That you will never put any pressure on yourself to meet the expectations of others, starting with the way you feed our babies."

Tears reappear for us both as there's a knock at the door.

"Come in," I reply, holding my wife's eyes with mine.

Gasps ring around the room as my mom, Hollie, Luna, Felicity, Jon, Zach, and Jessie all enter the room.

My mom makes a beeline for me as I stand from the bed, and she squeezes me tight. "Your dad's on his way. His plane lands in twenty minutes."

Luna and Felicity fawn over the babies as Jon, Zach, and Jessie look on with emotion in their eyes. Jessie shifts from one foot to the other. I know he's emotional for us, but I also know this moment right here has to be so fucking hard for him.

"I think it's time."

"Thank f?—"

Felicity cuts Jon off with a death stare.

"Sorry." He winces. "Forgot myself."

"Ladies first." I nod at Kate, desperate to know my daughter's name.

Stroking her soft cheek with her finger, she takes a deep breath. "June."

Luna's hands fly to her mouth as she gasps again. "That's so beautiful."

"Wait," I say, knowing the meaning behind the choice. "As in the month we..."

She nods her head. "Yes. And your JJ partner in crime."

I lose it just like I did that day at the scan.

"I need to hear his name," Kate says.

Pulling myself together, I look around the room, hoping this will go the way I truly want it to. He deserves that.

"I…I thought about a lot of names, but honestly, there was only one that felt right. Felt like his name belonged out here with us." I look at Jessie. "Back with you."

Jessie runs a palm over his shaking lips. "You, you named him William."

I nod and walk across to my best friend. "I hope you don't mind, but I wanted to offer you a small part of him right here, back on this earth with us."

Bringing him into a hug, I know the tears he cries against me are happy.

"You named him after my brother."

"I did."

Jon and Zach know Jessie lost his twin brother at birth, but they don't know the whole story or the way his death tore apart his family in unimaginable ways.

That's his business to tell.

"That's everything," Kate sobs. "June and William Jones."

Luna looks over at me. "You have two princesses now. It's good you have Will to keep you from being outnumbered."

Shaking my head, I round the bed and kneel by my wife. "Nah. Only one. Mrs. Jones is my queen."